Tag: art

Ok so have you ever read a line or a passage and it really moved you, more than the actual words on the page should have? I don’t know about you but when this happens it usually takes me by surprise. You are reading, immersed in the story, there is often an underlying tension that might be building and then you read this one sentence and wam you are hit with the emotion or the insight, like a damn was building up behind the words Buhner would say. That emotion or that deeper meaning was there under the surface, threaded along with the words and then all of a sudden it is on the surface. It’s pretty magical how that happens really. I’ve stopped and really analysed the words but it’s something underneath them that’s doing it.

ENSOULING LANGUAGE by Stephen H Buhner steps into this realm of writing and leads us through how it works and how any writing or art that is alive is a product of this process either consciously or unconsciously/intuitively.

Here are some samples from the book, they use writing but the same principles apply with other forms of art.

What he’s talking about in this snippet is the ability to write something while concurrently describing how it looks in the world but also how it feels in the world. And to do that as a writer you need to be in the feeling and the seeing of what you are writing about, in order to to express it. And when you are in that state it forms a kinesthetic dimension.

“Our capacity for nonphysically touching of the world opens up to us a different dimension of things beyond height, width and depth. A feeling dimension. And this feeling dimension of things will lead, if followed with focus and diligence, very deeply into the meaning of things in the world. Artists take this natural human capacity and go much further with it than most do; they do it as a profession. They begin to follow the touch of meaning upon them, follow their sensate perceptions of a golden thread, into the depths of the thing itself, into the meaning that underlie its surface form, its image.They then work to capture that in language.” ( or in music or photography or painting…)

Here’s another one about what happens when you write from this combined state of visually feeling it:

“A visual description then, in the writer’s hands, becomes infused with feeling. Simply by reading the visual description you have written, the reader feels the secret kinesis of the thing being described. Visual sensing, inside the writer ( and subsequently inside the writing), has taken on kinesthetic dimensions. And simultaneously, feeling has taken on a visual dimension. Simply by reading a line filled with feeling, a visual image or series of images unfolds within the reader.”

Buhner goes on to lead us through many other elements what layer into this process and consequently take us deeper and deeper into the process of enlivening our expression.

Thomas Dodd is a photographic artist and his current collection is called All Bodies Are Beautiful.

I was attracted to his work a couple of years ago. He expresses the feminine so powerfully and uses mythic and symbolic imagery. I like that. I tend to see the world through those kind of lenses so I get excited when I find artists who do too. It also gravitates towards nature rather than say more urban landscapes which is also something that I’m attracted to. I can’t say I recognize aspects of myself in the work which is usually a big part of what attracts us to things. It is the sheer beauty of it that I love.

You know beauty is greatly underrated. It often gets written off as a shallow surface thing and not something highbrow enough to aim for. But beauty has a powerful ability to shift consciousness. It is visual for sure but it is also a beingness, the beauty of the human spirit, of a life in all its humanity, it’s the thing that makes you cry when someone has achieved their goal or failed it. Beauty subtly shifts something in your chest when you are in the presence of it. – it tames the beast I guess.

Anyway I feel Thomas Dodd adds to this lineage, that’s why I’m sharing him with you.

For those of you who are photographers he has workshops and webinars on his techniques. If you are more of a camera luddite like me, he will often have a promotion where you can send him your photo and he will make a unique piece for you.

This is worth a watch, only about 2 minutes long and shows the stages that Escher went through to create “Snakes”. My experience of his work tends to be contemplative. He is very successful at getting us to look at something differently. When art does that to you, you take that shift in perception back into your life and the world around you, often this will make you view it slightly different than before. It’s so easy to think you know yourself and how your world is and have that create a stasis or stagnation in your excitement about being alive and living. I think collectively these shifts in perception, as we engage in art, music, literature, science, nature, etc., they create a dynamic and impetus that keep us fresh and interested in the world and our experience of living in it.

There is also a short film of about 8 minutes. It is structured around an interview with him and is subtitled as the interview is in Dutch.

Beatrice Wood lived until she was 105 and was an active potter through her 90’s. When asked what her secret was she said “I owe it all to art books, chocolate and young men.” Those things which inspires us and make us happy.

I find her attitude and creative spirit an inspiration. Being who you are and following your passions are fundamental to being ‘here’, present in life as well as living a meaningful and happy life. That doesn’t mean you have to be an artist or do something extra ordinary, I think it means if you want to sit on the front deck with a coffee, feel the sun on your feet and watch people walk by…do it. Of course we live together as communities so play nice goes without saying, the key is finding your place in a way that expresses you. It could be as simple as your open authentic presence.

I have a thing about centenarians and really want to be one as well. The few interviews I have seen have shown people who are at peace with themselves and who they are. I think that is one of the most challenging and rewarding things to achieve.